Kevin Nyango
TechInAfrica – Orange (www.Orange.com) and MainOne Cable Company (www.MainOne.net) have just announced their signed agreement about major investment by Orange in the West Africa cable system, MainOne. Through the partnership, Orange will get the additional capacity to reinforce its position in the African telecommunications environment.
Its current cable system of MainOne, which was launched in 2010, comprises a 7,000 submarine cable in Nigeria, Ghana, as well as Portugal. The partnership between these companies will provide the installation as well as the construction of two new branches and stations. Consequently, they will connect the cable to Dakar in Senegal and Abidjan in the Côte d’Ivoire by the mid-year of 2019. Dakar will be the owner of the cable station in Dakar due to its major milestone investment on this project.
For your information, Orange Marine is a subsidiary company of the Orange Group where it is chosen to manage the installation of the new branches.
The Benefits of the Cable Installation
This new cable installation brings advantages to the local people. It gives benefit for better connectivity, affordable, as well as access to new services. The cable extension will be a chance to improve connectivity and provide a wide range of services for Orange Côte d’Ivoire and Sonatel. In other words, MainOne provides a better alternative route to ensure the protection of voice and data traffic passes through the other cables in the area of the continent – SAT3 WASC SAFE and ACE.
The Cable Installation as the Main Asset of the Orange Group
The partnership with MainOne enables Orange to be a leading player in the submarine cable market. Through this role, Orange expects to improve the quality of services of its global networks and provide the new digital services use for end-users. As its main commitment to Africa, the Group makes its investment in building infrastructure and offering access to communication services for a long-term purpose.
The ambition of the Orange Group is to meet the needs of their affiliates in their interconnection with the Internet world as well as to improve their leadership in the international data services wholesale market. In addition, the partnership with MainOne will enable Orange Group to strengthen their company presence in the market, especially through their new significant assets in West Africa.
The development of new digital services in Africa has brought big social and economic improvement for these past few years. As a part of its multi-service strategy, Orange provides not only improved networks but also low-priced equipment. Another strategy of Orange, to seek a position as an important partner in Africa’s digital transformation. By the partnership, Orange expects to secure as well as improve direct access to high-speed broadband services in two major countries, Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire.
MainOne keeps playing a leading role in the digital transformation of their sub-region through an affordable connectivity investment to increase economic development. Its priority is to bridge the digital divide between West Africa and the global. They show their commitment by investing in technologically advanced subsea infrastructure that will also broaden their market globally. It is their strategy to gain more customers by investing in the improvement of the digital area in the African region.
Orange’s customers are spread in at least 12 countries in Africa in the Middle East with approximately 119 million customers in total (based on the latest data on June 30, 2018). The zone is a strategic zone of Orange as it has 5 billion euros of revenues in 2017. Its flagship mobile-based money transfer and financial services, Orange Money, is now available in 17 countries in the world with 38 million customers in total. As a multi-services operator and key partner of Africa’s digital transformation, Orange supports the development of new digital services in Africa as well as the Middle East.
About Orange
Orange (www.Orange.com) is one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators with sales of 41 billion euros in 2017 and 149,000 employees worldwide at 30 June 2018, including 91,000 employees in France. The Group has a total customer base of 260 million customers worldwide at 30 June 2018, including 199 million mobile customers and 20 million fixed broadband customers. The Group is present in 28 countries. Orange is also a leading provider of global IT and telecommunication services to multinational companies, under the brand Orange Business Services. In March 2015, the Group presented its new strategic plan “Essentials2020” which places customer experience at the heart of its strategy with the aim of allowing them to benefit fully from the digital universe and the power of its new generation networks.
About MainOne
MainOne (www.MainOne.net) has remained at the forefront of broadband growth in West Africa with growing investments in infrastructure across the region. In eight years of operation, the company has established a reputation as the preferred provider of wholesale Internet services to major telecom operators, ISPs, government agencies, large enterprise, and educational institutions in the region. MainOne’s world-class submarine cable system running down the coast of West Africa, and data center facilities, are interconnected with leading regional operators and internet exchanges worldwide to provide a global reach to our customers. Additional information can be found on www.MainOne.net. You can follow us on Twitter @mainoneservice
